Genes and Tech

Science Fairs

August 6th, 2039 5:00 pm

"Just a month after the arrest of Professor Robert Callaghan for assault, destruction of property, and for faking his death, evidence has finally popped up on the fire that has taken the life of some college students two years ago.  It is seen here on this security footage of a teenager around the age of sixteen running into the fire, only to be taken down by something hidden from the cameras."  The news change from a purple haired (clearly dyed) woman to a video, flames decorating the edges.

There, clearly seen, is a guy just two years older than me, running into the camera's view.  "Woah, he's like an older version of you, Hiro!"  Fred yells excitedly.  "Maybe you find a way to travel back in time, little dude!"

"Time travel is science fiction," Honey Lemon chides, folding her arms and staring up at the released footage.  "Besides, this guy has blue eyes.  Like glowing blue eyes.  Hiro doesn't have that."

"But he has survived the fire.  Look, he's being dragged away," I point at the screen as he slaps his neck and falls to the ground, being dragged away just seconds later.  "We need to find him."

"That's not going to happen for a while."

Aaaannnnd cut scene!  If it were a movie.  It's not, so we just keep moving forward.  Oh yes, I just did.

I turn around to see four people, one guy and three girls.  The guy, who had spoken up, looks to be three years older than me with a cowlick that reminds me of the Robinsons, and wearing some kind of suit.  The other three are around his age, all looking a little weird.  "Do I know you?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"You do now!"  He says, grinning.  "We're just here to tell you that-" the guy looks over my shoulder, narrowing his eyes.  "Hologram, we have three suits looking over at us," he whispers to a girl with candy in her hair.

"What do you want me to do?  I can't shove force fields in their faces!"  She complains in a hushed tone.

"InvisiGirl went last time!  It's your turn."

Finally annoyed,  I look behind me to see two guys in suits staring at me and a third talking to Aunt Cass.  The two staring at me nudge the third and point at me, muttering something.  "Fine, I'll see what I can do."  Hologram walks over to the three guys just as they start to walk towards us, holding her hands up.  "Can I help you?"

"Get out of the way, girl," one of them grumbles, attempting to shove her out of the way.  Instead, Hologram grabs the man's wrist and uses his power to pull him to the other side of her, knocking him to the ground.

"My name isn't 'girl,'" she grumbles as a second attempts to take her down.  That fails as she dodges and grabs hold of his collar with her other hand, still gripping onto the wrist of the second.

The third and last one steps up to her and looks her over before commenting "you're able to take both of my men down in three seconds flat.  Mind explaining?"

She just smirks before whispering something inaudible in his ear and adding "also, having things thrown at you in a lab teaches a lot.  You should try it, then you wouldn't have to have others fight for you."  He grabs her collar and she turns pixelated, the pixels quickly spreading to the three touching her and she disappears.

"Wait, where'd she go!?"  Wasabi asks, staring wide-eyed at the spot Hologram was just at.

"The natural version of Silent Sparrow, except she doesn't need a portal,"  the guy answers quickly waving it off.

"Wait, how'd you-"

I am quickly interrupted when he starts pushing me out the door.  "Sorry, kid, but we are out of time.  Hologram only teleports.  With three extra people, she can't take them far.  Long story short, people are after you and we need to protect you and the timeline.  Do you have any safe places to stay?  You clearly can't stay here."  He stops for a second and turns back, grabbing a computer and doing some stuff on it, but I'm not sure what.  It looks like... hacking and getting rid of footage?

"Uh, Aunt Cass!  I'm staying at Fred's!"  I yell behind me, shaking a stunned Aunt Cass out of shock.

"O-okay!  Don't be out too late!"

With that, Wilbur comes back and I'm practically kidnapped with my friends following behind me.

-----

"Wait, so you're from two years in the future and you're trying to stop a time paradox from reaching your time?"  I look at the group of crazy people in front of me and they nod.  "It doesn't seem like we succeeded.  Do you know when the explosion happened?"  Wilbur asks, obviously not good at being subtle.

Violet, or InvisiGirl, rolls her eyes before muttering "Wil, this is not the time to be blunt."

"Vi, we have to get to the past before we can make anything worse!  We already have to erase the past hour of everyone's lives!"

With eyebrows furrowed, Violet hugs Wilbur and pecks him on the lips.  "What's wrong?"

"A lot.  First, my second in command doesn't trust me.  Second, he went behind my back to my dad.  Third, he's risking his life for unknown reasons, and last?  Lastly, he's sick and I can't help him.  Instead I'm in this time failing at saving the timeline," Wilbur answers softly before pulling Violet closer and resting his chin on the top of her head.

Penny sits down next to me and looks around the hideout.  "Um, this is your hideout?"

I nod, deciding that if they are telling me their secrets, I can tell my own.  "Yeah, we kinda fixed up this place when the team and I became superheroes."

"Superheroes?"  She asks, surprised.

"You didn't know?"  Vanellope... that's a long name.  Vanny.  I like Vanny.  Vanny looks at Penny and she looks at the others in confusion.

"You did?"

"Wait, you already knew?"  I look at the group with shock and they all, except Penny, nod.

"I interrogated you about it using my force fields," Violet confesses.  "In the future, I mean."

"It's in your file that I got," Wilbur pulls out a stack of papers and holds them up as proof.

"You told me," Vanny mumbles, folding her arms.

Shaking it off, or seeming to, Penny turns back to me.  "Hiro, what's the date your brother died?"

"May 20th, 8:00 pm."  The four teenagers nod and stand up. 

"Stay here.  You can go home in the morning."  Vanellope pulls out a small device and turns it on, a blue light scanning over me, GoGo, Fred, Honey Lemon, and Wasabi.  Wait didn't I see something like that just after I left the cafe?  Before I could think any further, I black out.

[Wilbur, May 20th, 7:30 pm]

Watching Hiro's presentation, I realize that even though he is a genius, he's just like any one of us.  His nervousness and mistakes show just how human he is and I never saw that in sixteen year old him.  I guess you have to be brave and emotionless as a science professor at CalTech.  It was CalTech, right?  "Everyone in position?" I ask through the comms, looking around.

"Hologram is a-go."

"InvisiGirl in position."
"Yin awaiting next orders."

"Good.  Exiting crowd, heading towards Security Room.  Has the officer been taken care of?"

"He won't be waking up for a while, I've moved him away from the building.  Yin over."

I near the Security Room and enter, ensuring that my cap is still on as I head over to the keyboard and program the cameras to shut down for the next... five hours?  Yeah, five hours.  "Mission complete.  Evacuate the team."  Nailing the paradox at the source, the ripples will disappear and reverse everything that happened.  Hopefully.

It has to be done this way.  Usually, we'd look for the event that stops the ripples like a dam and go there then head back towards the source, but there was no dam.  Not between this time and our time.

Now, to return to our time and hope that everything is back to normal.

"Now where are you going, Wilbur?"

AN

Three chapters in a row all in one day!  We've made it 19 chapters through, and I'm working on chapter 20... as soon as I do my chores.

Laterz!!!